I'd like to update a thread weekly or fortnightly on whats going on @ my apiary. Bare in mind, Australia is 6 months out of season for you fella's in the states - Im smack in the middle of maintenance time here right now!!

Had to timber bog fill the holes left over from the crown stapler, then give the edges a bit of a rounding off with the sander. A coat of oil based primer (thats the white paint). All the exposed edges get 2 coats of primer. All done with a 3" wide paint brush.

They arent a telescoping lid. I use all migratory lids on the hives that are the sane size as the super box.

What you are seeing there is insulation on top of the lid. I live in a tropical climate. We can get 40 (104 f?) degree days and heavy rain all in the same day. Rainfall per year is 2000mm or roughly 7 feet per year. That insulation keeps the entrance a bit dryer and helps the timber joints on the boxs.

06-09-2010, 07:35 PM

swamprat

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

i noticed an electric fence.what do you have to protect you hives from in australia

06-09-2010, 09:39 PM

Robbo

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

We have a few cows on the farm. Its just to stop them bumping into the hives, or scratching/rubbing them selves on them.

I dont use those the entrance sealers that are a nail and some metal - the kangaroos can shut the entrances themselves!!

The staplers. 1 is a 6mm (1/4" crown) and the other a 12mm (1/2" crown). 6mm sizes go from 12 to 38mm. The 12mm goes from 1 1/2" to 2". I use the 2 inch ones - forget about taking the boxes apart if you make a mistake!!

Stuff I take to the bee yard with me for an inspection. I only found out about the cool suit, and the bee-z smoker thanks to this site. Imported them to Australia, and very happy with both items. I love the internet some times...

A few spare supers. Trying to keep in front of the game/demand for next springs busy times. The left pile is above a water/vinegar bath. These are stickies from last season. I dont use any chemcals in the storage process. I go 2 supers between metal seperators. Works ok for me.
The piles on the right have wired frames but no foundation fitted. I fit the foundation as I need them, normally 20 at a time. I prefer the foundation sitting in a box rather than on a frame in a super in the shed.

this is a piccy of the hive tour at the apiary on the weekend. Opened 2 hives and had a quick look at what was happening, and a good bit of discussion. Had roughly 31 members from the club show up for the meeting.

Cheers guys - yea not a lot to report here - last weekend I had a few hundred bees working a tree in flower here. Pretty cool as this week is the middle of winter. My wife is onto what type it is - will report back over the weekrnd.

Might have a check in the hives this weekend if I get a sunny day. need to drop the oil in the hive traps.

Put the queen excluders back in the hives 3 weeks ago, and then 7 days later checked if I had the queen in the right box. 6 from 7 were wrong, so had to juggle boxes. While I was at it, I opened up the hive entrance reducers on the bigger hives to about 60% open - we are still having cool nights,but lovely warm days.

1st of august looks like a good time for us next year to be doing that here (last month of winter).

I built a new hive stand as i would like to be @ 20 - 25 hives this year. Just need to paint the welds with gal paint, and water proof grease the upright legs. I should get 10 hives on there with room to remove the beetle traps between the hive bottoms.

Gee we had a bad weekend last week, We were doing some scrub clearing and one of the guys got a bee sting on the forehead. I took him to the house and gave him a anti inflamotroy pill from my bee gear and a large glass of water. Roughly 10 minutes from the sting time he passed out in my lounge room in the house. The ambulance officers said he had a (not sure of spelling) anafilactic?? reaction. That means something like he had a sting a few years back, and the body leashes out on the follow up sting.

he had low/poor bllod pressure and I didnt have any adrenaline or an eppy pen or anything here. NSW ambulance service got to the farm in 7 minutes (these guys a heros - fair dinkum) from in town. He spent the day in hospital being monitored and was released that afternoon, and went to work the next day!!

Very, very frightening for me to say the least. Im not used to people getting knocked out in the garden!!! I have spoken to a few beekeepers this week, and my dad also who has done bees since the 50's and none of them say they have heard of anything like this reaction wise. Just a sign of the times I spose - dunno.

Wow, crazy events down under Robbo!! Glad to hear everything worked out OK. Thanks for sharing the photos of your yard and shop. Very nice and also quite helpful...

Passed through Briz a few months ago, great place to visit mate.... hope to have a chance to get back down there someday. :thumbsup:

08-21-2010, 04:39 PM

Kingfisher Apiaries

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

So you have how many hives?

08-22-2010, 08:22 AM

MAXANT

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Thanks for sharing, nice setup you have. Very clean and organized!

08-23-2010, 04:58 AM

Robbo

Re: Robbo's Bees - Photo Blog

Ah cool - Brisbane CBD is about 2 1/4 hours north drive for me here. I work in between the gold coast and brisbane with my real job, but have a client or 2 in the CBD. Yea, next time your out, let us know - no dramas at all showing you around our parts.

Im down to 9 hives ATM, and on the lookout for 10-12 more for this season. I think 20-25 would be a good number for us for this year. My wife has pledged to help out a bit more, so 20 should be a good number. I have been sold out of honey here for 10 weeks now.

Cheers Maxant - Anytime you want to ship some of that surplus stock of yours over to us here, you let us know hey!! I love the quality gear you fella's make. Very rare these days to find such nice equipment.